The Alchemist
by rariccia
Summary: A cure for motion sickness? Lucy has sexappeal! Gray is still fully clothed at the middle of the day? A quest of Team Natsu results in a temporary guest at Fairy Tail. What good/evil will result from this arrangement? Mostly Comedy and Romance. (Team Natsu/Nalu-centered mostly)


**The Alchemist - Prologue**

The deafening sound of the loud explosion ringed through her ears as her eyes shot open in an instant.

Her heartbeat went crazy in her chest as she jumped out of the bed in fear, trying to determinate her surroundings. The room was still dark from the night. From her position sitting on her small bed she descried the grey wall of the little basement room that looked like a prison cell in an old medieval castle, her furniture and belongings still in their destined places. Everything seemed to be fine at first glance. Through her little cellar window she could see that it was still night outside. A short glance on her clock-lacrima confirmed her assumption.

No sign of an explosion nearby. She ran hand through her long brown hair that fell down on her back and shook her head. _Maybe it was a dream after all?_

Just that moment a second explosion resounded, this time closer by. The ground beneath her feet started shacking violently as she failed to keep her balance falling on her butt painfully. Gasping in pain und shock, she slowly realized. She wasn't dreaming. This was real. This was no dream at all!

The girl's glance wandered to her room door on the opposite side of the room. Listening closely she now started hearing noises from upstairs. Voices screaming for help and begging for merci. Agony. Pain. Fear.

A chill ran down her spine as she slowly rose to her feet. A thousand thoughts ran through her head. Not knowing what was going on she quickly grabbed her cloak that was resting on the chair next to her bed. Attached to the cloak was a belt that she wrapped around her torso. Little objects were attached to the dark leather and were making chattering noises as she moved. Some of them were tiny bottles, filled with mysteriously colored liquids. Green, pink, blue and yellow, each of different texture and transparency.

Last but not least she found her most precious belonging resting on the nightstand next to her bed. The warped her arms around the large book and pressed it against her flat chest protectively. Other than those few objects, she was completely defenseless.

Not wasting another moment she sprinted towards the door as another explosion hit the room above her head. Agonizing screams echoed in her mind like a broken record, looping everlasting in the depths of her soul. Voices of her best friends. Her family. What had they done to deserve this? What the hell was going on upstairs? When she had gone to sleep everything was fine, a peaceful evening with lots of laughter and fun. She had excused herself early, since she had been feeling kinda sick. But now adrenalin was pumping through her veins, fueling her engines till she was close to overheating, tension in every muscle in her little frail body.

Mustering up as much courage as she could, she reached for the door knob of the thick wooden door, trembling as her hand reached out. But shortly before she could touch it, the door flew open, hitting the wall with a loud and noisy bang, making the shelves vibrate.

A shriek escaped her before she could even realize it.

_ "__NOOOOO."_

She defensively ducked away in horror, shielding herself from whoever was standing in the doorway with her book. She heard a maddening laugh coming from upstairs. A laugh so evil and menacing, she feared she would be hearing it in her darkest dreams. _If_ she survived this. Tears started streaming down her face. She was crying.

"Shhh. be quiet Ren!"

A gleam of hope reappeared in her eyes as she looked up to see the face of a very familiar person kneeling in front of her. Even through his clothes were tattered and blood was streaming down his temple, he still managed to give her his most heartwarming smile.

"Calm down."

She mustered the man still frozen in shock and unable to speak. His almost grey hair was dirty from ashes. His once rough but friendly voice sounded huskily, as if he was exposed to a lot of smoke or fire. Fire. Explosions. Smoke…. Death.

"Everything's going to be fine. No time for crying now for god's sake. Get yourself together. "

His voice, though stern and unfriendly, held a lot of warmth and consideration. Her bright pink eyes blinked as she considered his words. She finally nodded and rose to her feet, following after him as he grabbed her hand to pull her along. They passed a doorway and continued their way down a long, dark hallway. Passing a flight of stairs that was leading upward to the main hall; she heard the maddening laugh again. And voices she couldn't recognize.

What scared her the most was that her friends weren't screaming anymore. Except for a few minor explosions and tremors she heard nothing but the invaders destroying her guild, laughing at the destruction and pain of her comrades.

Her glance shifted between the man and the staircase in confusion.

"A-Aren't we…. going to help the others?" Her question escaped as a mere whisper glancing nervously at the old man. He answered her question by tightening his grip on her hand, making her squirm in pain.

"B-But…?!"

In the distance she could see a flash of moonlight. There was a window leading to the backside of the building facing the woods. Her emergency exit?

As they reached the window, the old man hauled off to smash his bare elbow against the wooden frame holding the pieces of glass in place. He grunted as he turned his head to the side to away the splinters from reaching his face. Blood started running down his elbow as he continued to strike the window. She wiped a few tears away from her eyes as she watched him wheeze in exhaustion. He was at his limit, she knew. She knew this old man long enough to know this. And she loved him dearly. Like the father she has never had. Even though in this moment she regretted never having told him this. Right now, she longed to tell him but refrained from doing so. She had to be tough for him. And she would. Till the end.

Finally the frame gave away and broke loose. Now there was a large hole, large enough for a small person to fit through. Under no circumstances he would fit through there as well. Then realization hit her.

"Bento-sama?!" she cried out in grief. Gripping her by the waist he levered her into the hole without any further hesitation. With her free hand she caught a wood truss on the façade and managed to haul herself out. The grass beneath her bare feet was cold and soaking wet from the rain earlier this evening. The cold wind caused her to shiver in her thin nightgown and cloak. She turned around to face the window again. Bento watched the little girl's eyes fill up with tears as he slowly started turning around and heading back towards the staircase leading to the main area.

"Get moving brat, you don't have much time!" he grunted angrily.

"Bento-sama…" Childish tears streamed down her face as she watched his quickening his pace.

"Please, take care of yourself… Ren. I… love you." he whispered sadly as he neared the source of the destruction of his beloved guildhall. Saving this little girl was the last thing he could do for his guild as a guild master. As that, he knew his responsibility for his children. Saving their youngest member that brought so much joy to their little guild since her arrival was his last duty as a master. Nothing would stop him. Even if this meant going to prison instead of escaping. Running away to save his old sorry ass was no option anyway.

"Ohhhh- look who finally decided to show his face again…."

"About time I'd say…."

"Aye."

In the distance she heard fighting and the sound of wizards casting their spells. She was frozen in shock unable to apprehend her situation. As the signs of fighting stopped she knew what had conspired.

_"__No…"_

"Now that was an easy job, we got him." A female voice reached. A few other sounds she couldn't clearly understand followed. Though she knew she had to run her heart ached inside her chest to leave them all behind. It wasn't fair that only she should escape. Her hand reached for her heart as she slowly backed away from the guild house. She wasn't looking where she was going when the back of her legs suddenly made impact with a large wooden object causing her to waver. The wet and icky ground caused her to lose her balance and stumble backwards tripping over an old cart that had been parked behind the house. It hadn't been used in ages so this probably slipped her mind. Another shriek escaped her in surprise as her leg was cut open by a large nail standing out from the wood. She hit the ground hard and cursed to herself as she slowly rose again. She noticed the rather large cut on her left leg and hissed in pain. Then she realized the situation and she quickly straightened in alarm. But it was too late.

"Wait, I think I heard something from outside." Another female voice remarked.

"Is that so?" the maniac sounded delighted. "Let's go after him, you stay here. We're going after this coward!"

Well _Shit_.

That was the moment she started running. Her foster father she had learned to love so dearly had lost in battle. Or even worse... she tried not to imagine it. He, who wanted her to escape and tried to buy her some time. She certainly was not going to let his sacrifice go to waste. She would escape and revenge her father. Her friends. Her brothers and sisters. Everyone! She would try to make them pay.

Rage started building up in her heart as her feet raced over the muddy ground towards the thick forest. It was dark though and she couldn't see much as she passed through. On day she knew this forest by heart. In this situation the familiar surroundings transformed it into a never ending labyrinth of darkness and sharp edges. Now and then she cut herself by sticks and sharp rocks. She felt like she was hit a train. Everything hurt, she was soaking wet and freezing. Her legs and feet were bleeding from the scratches and felt like they were burning. Her lungs burnt as well, she was panting and sweating.

"I smell something over there!" Those voices.

Carefully securing her precious book with one hand, she quickly grabbed a little round bottle filled with a strange green liquid in her other hand. Preparing herself for combat- just in case. She didn't dare to turn around, but as she did, the ground suddenly slipped from beneath her feet causing her fall. Yelping in surprise she slid over the dirty ground mud getting all over her until she forcefully hit against a tree stopping her way. To her dismay the bottle slipped from her hand as well and hit the ground with a loud clank. A strong smelling scent spread around her causing her eyes to get heavy and knees to get weak. As she tried to regain her composure the exhaustion set in and caused her to wobble on her feet. The world around her or her head was spinning. She couldn't tell. But she heard people approaching. Fast.

"Please let me go…." She wailed forcing her eyes shut. Even though crying was not her thing normally – she was too old for that in her opinion – she had shed a lot of tears this night. She was hopeless, alone and frightened. Everyone would have cried considering her circumstances – _right_?

Three people stood in front of her, they were talking. As she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but dark silhouettes. Silhouettes of demon like creatures. A red demon woman, a hairless blue-haired monkey that reminded her of a Popsicle and a wyvern like person with horns, fangs and claw whose snarl she reminded her of the maniacal laughs she heard in the guild earlier. Demons that destroyed her home and hurt her unusual but beloved family.

"Just you wait you demons… I'll slay you…. I'll make you pay …..With fluffy bunnies and cheesecakes for stealing my precious baby doll!"

_She giggled. _"God, I'm so stoned out of my mind right now"

As the world before her eyes turned black the fear and pain stopped immediately. The last thing she felt was that someone was leaning over her, grapping her and collecting her lifeless body from the muddy soil.

After a series of very disturbing dreams about evil laughing clowns and monsters beneath her bed she slowly regained a little bit of her consciousness. It was bright as day. She was moving, probably on a vehicle. A carriage perhaps. And she felt sick to the bone. Her head was acting up because of the poison that was supposed for her attackers. So she had a taste of her own medicine. Too bad.

She heard those voices again causing her to believe she was still in one of those nightmares.

"Natsu, don't puke on my shoes … that's gross" a disgusted blond woman to my left remarked. A pink-haired tuna lay next to her on the bench, looking sea-sick. _How could a fish even be seasick?_

"Yea, you should really man up already, this is just a short carriage ride."

"You … sound like Elfman…." A weak tuna named Natsu replied causing the monkey to yell in annoyance.

"Hey, are you awake?" a gentle female voice asked. She knew the question was directed at her when she saw a blond angel leaning over her lying form. A gentle smile on her bright face and eying her with caring eyes. The girl reached for her temple as if to gather her thoughts. Unsecure what to do she sighed and closed her eyes as another wave of nausea hit her. _Why were they talking to her? And where in the world was she? What was she to do?_

"How is she?" the red demon spoke this time. The blond sat back onto the bench.

"We treated her wounds, but we should have Wendy see her as soon as we are back at the guild." The angel responded. The girl opened her eyes. Back at the guild? A wizards guild? That was the last place on earth she wanted to be taken to. She knew a lot of horror stories from her friends. A lot of her friends were taken from those guilds. And now they were all gone, all gone… Sorting her options in her mind, she finally coughed to get their attention.

"I'm….Ren." she finally reached out for words that escaped her mouth in a whisper. The others turned to her surprised. Her voice sounded hoarse, maybe because she had inhaled too much of the potion.

"Nice to meet you Ren." The red demon said rather friendly and polite. "We're here to help you. Don't you worry child."

She couldn't grasp this situation, but she immediately understood that she had to take action. She had to solve this. Somehow.

"….Thank… you." she felt tears start to emerge again as she lied but managed to suppress them.

"What were you doing at this particular dark guild?" Another male asked. The monkey she supposed. From the sound of his voice she could tell that his question was honest. They probably didn't suspect her to be the person she really was. She would use this to her advantage. At least for the time being.

"The guild, they captured meeee…. I had to make potions for their… evil doings…" Granted, talking didn't work that great just yet. But it was a start. Rage started building up inside but she did what was best in this particular situation.

"I'm an alchemist…." Her hand slowly rose to gesticulate toward her large book she had spotted lying next to her. "I'm the greateeest alchemist of the whooooooooole universe! And beyoooond!"

Still stoned. Suddenly she noticed her own voice and started giggling. She was talking cheerfully and waving her arms to emphasize her words. She earned some questioned looks from the others.

"But that's awful!" The blonde said sadly and the others seemed to agree. Ren seemed confused at their sympathy but wouldn't let that show.

_"__Potions?" _A talking blue cat asked, yes she had to be stoned to image a flying AND talking blue cat. Instead of commenting she just nodded.

"Where is your family? Weren't they looking for you?" The red demon wondered while tapping her finger thoughtfully against her cheek. They exchanged looks she couldn't place.

"I don't know, don't know." This question she answered honestly. There was no point in lying about the fact that she never met her biological parents. Not that she remembered. But she was tired now, so tired, so tired… she wanted to sleep… no she wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

She wanted to be home. 

**A/N**: Hope you enjoyed the prologue. The following chapters will be rather lighthearted and comedy.


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